My newly acquired devotion to the cult of the Swallows and Amazons requires me to set off early on Sunday morning to Coniston Water for the Wild Cat Island Cruise. The cruise is organised by the National Trust, sailing on the 150 year-old steam yacht Gondola, which was rescued from its watery grave by the the Trust and completely restored to the elegant and sumptuous Victorian splendour of its hey-day.
Arthur Ransome, the author of the twelve Swallows and Amazons books, lived in a house overlooking Coniston Water, and so it is here that he set his novels about the children of the Walker family, sailors of the good ship Swallow, and their one time rivals, Nancy and Peggy Blackett, captain and crew of the Amazon.
Their first adventure is set on the fictitious 'Wild Cat Island' which is in fact a real island in Coniston Water, not far from Ransome's house.
It's a beautiful morning as 'Gondola' steams into view to collect the eager seafarers. The advertisements for the old steam yacht make a point of noting how quiet this vessel is, and that is perfectly true. Not an engine sound to be heard. She glides through the water as if drawn along on an invisible line.
On board, a family of S&A fans from America are sitting near me as we pull away from the jetty and the children are eagerly looking out for various points of interest along the way. Me too!
The children in Ransome's stories were loosely based on the children of his friends who did really live here, so we see the boat sheds where the Amazon was moored and the the farm, Holly Howe, where the children stayed for their holidays. We see the houseboat that inspired the character, Captain Flint who lives on a houseboat, and we pass Cormorant Island where the treasure was hidden.
Then at the far end of the lake we arrive at Wild Cat Island, where the children have their camp. Our captain navigates us into a good position to view the entrance to the secret harbour and there's a decided list to port as we all move across for a better look. We bemoan the fact that the lighthouse tree is no more, and I'm sure we'd all like to go ashore and look for the camp-site. But, alas, we must leave that to our imagination.
As we head back up the lake away from Wild Cat Island, I think I see a wisp of smoke from their camp-fire wafting up through the trees!
Back to reality and off to visit Dorothy and William at Dove Cottage. This humble abode was home to the Wordsworth brother and sister and later William's wife and family as well, until they outgrew the place (which wouldn't take long).
It is all very charming and pleasingly rustic on a summer's day in 2010, but I suspect it was not quite so in 1800. William was known to avoid the downstairs domestic areas of the house, confining himself to the more cheerful upstairs sitting room, which also doubled as his study, and leaving the house via the garden door. He was, after all, a poet and one can't be expected to pen those golden lines in the kitchen, can one?
The poetry for which he is best remembered was written here, and you can quite imagine him scribbling away in this romantic house.
William wasn't the only member of the household with a literary bent, we know that Dorothy belatedly (and posthumously) hit the headlines in 1897 with the publication of her Grasmere Journals, a record of their years at Dove Cottage.
And it turns out that the two best lines in 'Daffodils' (according to WW himself), were written by his wife Mary! In the kitchen I wonder?
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